RealNetworks today unveiled its Helix OnlineTV application for mobile and broadband providers and announced that Cingular has named Real as its end-to-end solution provider for the development and delivery of the carrier's next generation video service. Helix OnlineTV is Real's solution for both mobile and broadband service providers enabling them to offer personal interactive TV to consumers' handsets or PCs.

"Cingular has been at the forefront of bringing advanced mobile services to market, and we're very pleased to have been selected to play such a critical role in the future delivery of their video services," said John Giamatteo, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Business Products and International Operations for RealNetworks. "Cingular's confidence in Real to deliver our full range of mobile solutions to their customers is validation of the advanced capabilities of our mobile technology in supporting today's emerging multimedia market."

"As we rollout our high-speed UMTS / HSDPA network, we'll be able to deliver a host of compelling new mobile multimedia services to consumers - like high quality steaming video and audio" said Jim Ryan, vice president of data services for Cingular. "The key toward making these new services appealing to customers is providing simple and fast access to the specific content that satisfies their individual interests. RealNetworks' expertise in streaming audio and video, along with the flexibility of their Helix OnlineTV platform will help enable Cingular to give our customers the fastest access possible to the audio and video content they care most about."

Streaming With Cingular

Real will provide Cingular, the nation's leading wireless carrier, with a comprehensive video solution including application development for packaging mobile content, hosting the mobile video service on behalf of Cingular, and delivering the streaming content to a variety of new handsets for the carrier's 3G UMTS / HSDPA network. Cingular is scheduled to roll out its 3G video later this year.

Cingular's next generation video service will be hosted using Real's Helix Media Delivery System, the basis for delivery for the Helix OnlineTV application. Components of the Helix Media Delivery System are currently deployed by more than 70 mobile carriers in over 40 countries around the globe. The launch with Cingular will include the following system components: Helix Mobile Server for streaming video content, Helix Universal Gateway for content delivery, the Helix Mobile Producer for content integration, in addition to the Helix DNA Client, a universal media playback engine that can support decoding and playback of any data type on any compatible device.

Helix OnlineTV Application Commercially Available

Powered by the Helix Media Delivery System, Real's Helix OnlineTV application enables mobile carriers and broadband operators the ability to deliver multichannel video to the handset or the PC. The solution is an end-to-end, open, extensible, cross-platform system enabling service providers to offer customizable, interactive video services to consumers whenever they want it.

By integrating the industry-leading Helix components, operators can manage and stream media traffic across their 2.5 and 3G networks to deliver value-added content such as news, sports and entertainment in RealAudio and RealVideo, as well as in 3GPP compliant formats. Real's Helix-based technology is also used by more than 50 different handset models on more than 30 million handsets worldwide.